1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of easels. More specifically, the invention relates to a portable easel and palette combination.
2. Related Art
In the field of fine arts, there exists an apparatus for supporting a painter's canvas commonly known as an easel. An easel is often combined with a palette mounted to the front of the easel for storing paint or other art supplies. The term “easel” as used hereinafter is understood to mean an easel and palette combination. The term “canvas” as used hereinafter is understood to mean generally a board, panel, sheet, plate, or like device, whether composed of canvas, paper, wood, or other material, mountable on an easel, to which an artist applies her medium.
Easels have been in use for many years; perhaps the most common design being a French-style easel. Generally, the French-style easel comprises a tripod structure that supports a framework, or “easelback”, which holds an artist's canvas in place. See, e.g., various French-style easels manufactured by Jack Richeson & Co., Inc. of Kimberly, Wis. The French-style, and similar easels, have many disadvantages. They are heavy and cumbersome, and difficult to haul around. Their set-up is complicated and time-consuming. Their many component parts and hardware wear out or become lost.
Other easel designs are somewhat simplified or made portable by joining the easelback to the palette by means of butt hinges. The hinges allow the easelback to be opened to a desired angle with respect to the palette when the easel is in use, and re-closed by folding the easelback onto the palette for compact storage. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,651. This, and other portable easels, may include a brace extending between the sides of the palette and easelback, or a supporting member to maintain the easelback at the desired angle. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,326. Other easels may also provide a means for holding the artist's canvas against the easelback, for example, in the form of tension springs attached from the easelback to either side of the canvas. These and other easels may be supported by extendable leg sections connected directly to the palette, or by a detachable tripod support.
The aforementioned easels embody various designs for attaching an easelback to a palette that seek to overcome the following problems: (i) providing a means for pivotably attaching the easelback to the palette, (ii) providing a means for adjusting the easelback to a desired angle with respect to the palette, and (iii) providing a means for locking the angled easelback securely into position. Thus far, an elegant solution comprising one mechanism that solves these three problems has eluded those skilled in the art of easel design.
A conventional approach to solving the first problem is by installing one or more butt hinges between the easelback and palette. Butt hinges, however, are ill-suited for this application, due to the following failure mechanism to which easels are especially susceptible: with each brush stroke that presses on the canvas, a force, amplified by the moment arm of the easelback, acts to pry the hinges loose from their fastening hardware. Over time, the hinges loosen, causing the easel to wobble unacceptably.
An approach to solving the second problem is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,326, which uses a brace that connects the sides of the easelback to the sides of the palette. An unfortunate consequence of this arrangement is that the braces tend to obstruct the artist from freely stroking a brush across lower portions of the canvas. When the artist accidentally contacts a brace while stroking, paint gets undesirably ejected onto the palette and canvas. To prevent this problem, an artist must raise the level of her canvas higher than the side braces, but this creates an even longer moment arm causing additional stress to the hinges by the same failure mechanism described above. Other methods for adjusting the back at a desired angle have been attempted, such as a telescoping rod connecting the easelback to a supporting leg. Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,651, wherein a rear-mounted brace connects the easelback to an extended side piece. However, these methods add to the overall weight, complexity, and set-up time.
An approach to solving the third problem, for locking the easelback into position, is commonly achieved by designs that use wing nuts or other separable fastening hardware that an artist must tighten by hand. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,651. Often, however, these designs leave the artist to confront the frustrating problem of lost hardware while working in the field.
Other features of existing easel designs have been equally frustrating for artists. Easels having grooved blocks for holding the top of the canvas unduly limit canvas thickness, and also restrict the free flow of brush strokes. Easels having spring-tensioned hooks that grip the sides of a canvas unduly limit canvas width, and eventually, the springs become overly fatigued. Easels that use hinged legs for attachment to the palette tend to be heavy and tedious to assemble. Easels having tripod mounting plates screwed to the bottom of the palette, when assembled to a tripod, put excessive strain on the bottom of the palette by leverage applied over the distance between the plate and the bottom of the tripod, eventually causing a structural failure.
It is apparent from the foregoing discussion that there presently exists a need for a light-weight, portable, easel-and-palette combination having a durable and elegant means for attaching the palette to the easelback, for adjusting the angle of the easelback, for locking the back in its adjusted position, for mounting the palette to a support structure, and for accommodating a wide range of canvas sizes, all facilitating quick set-up time without creating brush stroke obstructions when fully assembled.